France grapples with impending war anxieties towards Russia.
In a significant move, France has released its 2025 National Strategy Review (Revue nationale stratégique 2025), highlighting Russia as the most direct and unambiguous threat to France and European stability. The report foresees a high likelihood of major war in Europe by 2030 due to escalating Russian aggression, particularly emphasizing the risk of warfare in Europe's heartland.
The review identifies Russia’s tactics as including cyberattacks, sabotage, espionage, and the full use of conventional military power, aimed at undermining European unity and destabilizing the continent. Moscow is considered the leader in the use of "information weapons" and manipulation of public opinion in the digital realm and people's perceptions.
Regarding hybrid warfare and destabilization, the review stresses Moscow's use of all means at its disposal to undermine European support for Ukraine and challenge the international order. This includes subversive activities across the continent, though the documents do not cite specific tactics like illegal immigration explicitly. Instead, it broadly references destabilizing actions on French and European soil that France must prepare to counter, including the need to strengthen national resilience and morale.
Key points also include:
- Prioritizing increased defense spending to modernize France’s armed forces and enhance resilience against hybrid and conventional threats.
- Recognition that the United States is unlikely to remain actively involved in European security, necessitating greater European and French self-reliance.
- Strengthening strategic partnerships in Eastern Europe, especially with Poland, as a frontline state against Russia and a key ally in shaping Western responses to threats.
- Expanding France’s strategic objectives to include academic, scientific, and technological excellence to maintain advantage in future conflicts.
- Endorsement of continued strong support for Ukraine as an immediate strategic priority.
The report also emphasizes the importance of protecting shared spaces, particularly the information field, including hacker attacks, spread of panic rumors, and manipulation of public opinion. France needs to reform traditional armed forces, increase military production, strengthen logistics, create strategic reserves, and improve air defense and cyber defense systems.
Moreover, the report warns of the intensification of covert attacks on critical infrastructure, both electronic and physical. Russia's strategy includes hybrid operations on NATO's flanks and all continents. The report suggests that the year 2022 has been a turning point for European security architecture.
President Emmanuel Macron has reiterated the Russian threat on Europe's borders as a lasting danger. The document highlights the threat of underwater conflict, where critical communication and supply lines are vulnerable. Migration flows are named as a tool for destabilization capable of triggering social crises, part of hybrid warfare. However, the report does not explicitly mention illegal immigration as a specific Russian tool for destabilization.
In sum, France’s 2025 National Strategy Review warns of a prolonged and intensified confrontation with Russia combining military and hybrid tactics, demands stronger European defense capabilities, and emphasizes the urgency of preparing for potential large-scale conflict within a decade.
- The French report on its 2025 strategy warns of the use of cyberattacks, sabotage, espionage, and conventional military power by Russia, indicating a potential threat to cybersecurity.
- The review also highlights the importance of protecting shared spaces, such as the information field, from Russian attacks like hacking, rumor-spreading, and manipulation of public opinion, demonstrating a concern in the realm of technology.
- In the context of war-and-conflicts, the report stresses the significance of increased defense spending to modernize France's armed forces, with a focus on resilience against hybrid and conventional threats, reflecting a need for politics to address these security concerns.
